by Dongtini — Episode 113
October 1, 2014 in Podcast by dongtini
On this episode: Simone talks about ways lowbrow entertainment is turning us into Idiocracy, Stephy feels lowbrow entertainment reflects existing society, and a lively conversation ensues. Also: Simone has a list obsession, Stephy went to a work slumber party, Simone’s mum tried to pronounce Dongtini and boy was it funny, Stephy talked to Bust about Mark Driscoll and then tells of Tony Jones’ rough few weeks on the internet, Simone has a list addiction, Whopper Jr. has left the building, there exists an adorable dog named Snacky, and a listener calls in with a disheartening “moist” story.
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Dongtini – Episode 113
Simone, Stephy, Richard and Jona on Jona’s birthdayStephy’s interview with Bust about Mark Driscoll.
Lauren Hoffman’s article on TV and shame which Stephy and Simone each had strong opinions about.
Snacky (@snacky_business on Instagram) is Stephy’s new obsession.
Closing song: Liz Phair — “Soap Star Joe”
There’s a line from an old hip hop song that goes “TV; Is it the reflector or the director?” and I think when it comes to “reality” tv it directs way more than it reflects. It does not accurately portray reality, a lot of it is scripted and faked but in turn it has created new realities. Teenage girls are getting pregnant on purpose to try and get on one of MTVs pregnant teenager shows for instance. People enter the reality show world and never leave, they keep going from one show to the next and there’s nothing real about being a professional reality star.
So yeah I do think it’s making society worse. There are big ways – like those storage unit auction shows which are completely faked for the show but then people quit their jobs and spend their savings on storage unit auctions and go broke in real life. And don’t even get me started on what it’s done to science education & literacy. Animal Planet has run SIX SEASONS of Finding Bigfoot with no bigfoot! AND ITS NOT EVEN THE ONLY SHOW ABOUT FINDING BIGFOOT!!
But it also makes the world worse in a small way and I actually think this is the bigger problem. I’m not saying this in judgement of anyone, I’m saying this because it applies to me. I’m a big fan of The Soup, I have a weekly ritual of watching The Soup while eating KFC. But I’m starting to worry about the effect these shitty shows about shitty human beings being shitbags is having on me. Because watching these pig people degrading themselves for fame makes me feel good about myself. That’s bad because I haven’t done anything to earn that! The existence of these shows gives me a reason to feel like I’m accomplishing something just by not being like these people when in reality I’ve accomplished nothing. Now I don’t know if that’s true for anyone else but me but if it is then reality tv really is a horrible influence on society!
Also buttons are a lie. Most crosswalk buttons as well as the “close” button on elevators do nothing at all, engineers just leave them there to give people the illusion of control!
http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/02/10/placebo-buttons/
The thing about Stephanie’s bus whacking into trees every day really took me back. I used to take a bus that went by a tree that would smack into it every now and then, I think it was technically something the driver could avoid but most of the time they didn’t care to. Anyway, I was on my way home one night and the branch went WHHHHACK SCRRRRRRRRRRAPE into the side of the bus and this older lady who was sitting near the window it whacked jumped about a foot and said “Oh!” and put her hand over her mouth because it caught her off guard. She started looking around frantically into all of the faces of the people who were now staring at her, and she started railing against the idea of a branch hitting a bus: “That shouldn’t happen! They should fix that. Can’t they fix that? That’s something that shouldn’t be hitting the bus! It’s about safety. Can’t they fix that?” She got louder and louder because nobody around her was saying anything, we were all desperately trying to go back to whatever it was we were doing before the offending branch hit the bus, and she got up and went to the front of the bus to yell at the driver! “You need to tell them, cut those branches back!” He was kind of laughing and halfheartedly arguing with her, “That’s the city, ma’am, I don’t have nothing to do with that,” and she was like “THINGS SHOULD NOT BE HITTING THE BUS WHILE YOU HAVE RIDERS ON IT” and he was cracking up and shaking his head. She stood next to him until her stop, when she asked for his badge number because “I’m going to report you, sittin’ there laughing about the safety of your passengers” and he was DYING and everybody on the bus was staring wide-eyed and she stumped off into the night and I kind of hoped a branch would fall in front of her like “THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM DON CORLEONE” but no such luck.